Hi guys! Welcome back from the holiday weekend!

We packed a lot into our weekend, the biggest was changing our living room entertainment set up. So………

We went to IKEA!!!!

We are pretty lucky that IKEA is only a 40 minute drive from Evanston. I know people who don’t have one anywhere near and that would bum me out, because like Target, IKEA is one of my favorite places to go!

So as you know from my post in May, Kevin and I have been trying to change our apartment up a little bit into something we really want and more functional in general. We may be apartment living “for now” but why not make the most of it! Just because this is not where we think we’ll live forever, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t put effort into making this the best space for us. We gotta work to love our space and make our space work for us. That’s why we hit up IKEA!

It’s great for inspiration and just get’s all my creative juices flowing, putting a bazillion ideas in my mind! Kevin is such an amazing guy for dealing with my brand of crazy! I think in a bunch of different directions all at once and I voice A LOT of ideas and opinions, so thankful for him and his patience with me!!! 🙂

Sorry didn’t mean to go on a rant and cheese out about my hubby (NOT Sorry).

So 2 hours of IKEA later…we got the goods (and little extras because why not!)

And we got to building and sortin’ and all that “fun” stuff that tests your relationship in little ways with tiny arguments of “You said it was straight” “I said it looked straight” so on so forth haha. But we persevered.

Let’s look down memory lane, our BEFORE living room.

Just an array of different size and shape shelving for our movies.

And our AFTER!

We are loving the new look and flow! Everything looks like one cohesive space and it unifies the whole room now. The tv cabinet is from Target (Windham) and the bookcases are Billy from IKEA, which we bought an extra shelf for each bookcase. I really love built-ins and wanted to create that look without the permanence since it’s apartment living. We also added a clock above our front doorway.

Also from IKEA the Bondis wall clock. I love how the black stands out on the white wall.

And we moved the record player into the living room, where yet another movie rack used to be. Remember?

Another change was in our kitchen! Check out our before and after.

Yep, we added some pots and pans rail action using the IKEA Fintorp system! It freed up some much needed cabinet space. And I even got an extra one for my oven mitts!

We even got to add some hat hooks, these and these, from IKEA to the bedroom. Mine above the closet and Kevin’s next to his valet area.

It’s the small changes that make a big difference in our home! We are very happy with the results and keep working on those changes to make our apartment exactly what we want it to be! Working on rearranging the dining room…. Just overly excited for the living room space.

Hopefully in the near future a new couch/guest bed and a new coffee table!

Make your place your own! Have respect for where you are living and try to make it something you are proud of, no matter if it’s not where you are going to be living forever.

Love,
B